Imran Khan's Sons Speak Out on His Health Amidst Cricket Controversy

At Lord’s, on the morning of a Test match, the conversation was never supposed to be about prison cells and hospital wards.

Yet that is exactly where the game’s attention drifted on Thursday, as Sky Sports held back – then finally aired – an interview that has dragged Pakistan cricket, the PCB and the country’s politics into the same unforgiving spotlight.

The sit-down was conducted by former England captain and Sky commentator Mike Atherton, who spoke at length with Imran Khan’s sons, Suleiman and Kasim. Across 18 measured, often uncomfortable minutes, the brothers detailed their father’s deteriorating health, their anxiety over his safety, and the exhausting fight to secure what they describe as basic, appropriate medical treatment.

The interview was recorded the previous day at Lord’s and even teased in a pre-Test preview. But when it came to the live broadcast, resistance arrived from across the boundary rope.

According to Cricinfo, the PCB contacted Sky Sports before lunch, objecting to the planned airing of the segment. The board is understood to have gone further than a simple complaint, warning that Pakistan’s players might refuse to return after the interval if the interview went to air.

The pressure was immediate. Sky paused. The piece did not run before the break.

Then came the turn.

During the lunch interval, the broadcaster put the interview out in full. It was a clear editorial call, and one that cut directly across the PCB’s reported threat. Viewers in the UK and elsewhere saw Suleiman and Kasim lay out their concerns. Viewers in Pakistan did not.

Inside Pakistan, the series is carried by state broadcaster PTV, which did not show the segment. So while the game at Lord’s played on, a different contest – over access, image and influence – unfolded off the field.

The timing is not accidental. Concern over Imran’s condition in prison has been building for months. His sons, once relatively private figures, have become increasingly vocal, using whatever platforms they can find to push for greater medical access for their father, who has now been incarcerated for around three years.

That concern spiked last week.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court directed that the 1992 World Cup-winning captain be admitted to Shifa Hospital in Islamabad. Instead, he was taken to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for a check-up, then returned to prison. Imran’s sisters and sons say the court’s order was not followed, insisting he must be examined by his own doctor and treated at the hospital specified by the judges.

Their anger has found powerful allies. Twenty-one former international captains – including Atherton – recently signed a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, calling for Imran to receive proper medical attention in custody. The list cut across eras and borders: former leaders from India, Australia, England, New Zealand and the West Indies all attached their names.

It was not the first appeal. In February, 14 former international captains had already written to the Pakistan government. According to reports, that earlier intervention drew no response.

The PCB has so far stayed silent publicly on the Sky Sports episode. No statement, no clarification, no acknowledgment of the reported warning that its own players might refuse to take the field if the interview aired.

The Pakistan government has been more forthright. It has repeatedly rejected claims that Imran has been mistreated in prison or blocked from seeing his family and legal team. In comments to the Associated Press last week, officials said Imran had received more than 900 visits from relatives, lawyers and doctors since his imprisonment in August 2023.

Two sharply different pictures now sit side by side.

On one side, a family alleging court orders ignored, medical care mishandled and a former national icon left vulnerable behind bars. On the other, a government insisting that due process is intact, access is plentiful and the narrative of neglect is politically driven.

Cricket, as so often in Pakistan, stands somewhere in the middle – part stage, part shield. A Test match at Lord’s became the backdrop for a very different kind of drama: a broadcaster weighing journalistic duty against diplomatic fallout, a board trying to control the message, and the sons of a World Cup-winning captain using the global reach of the sport he once dominated to fight for the man he has now become.

The game will move on to the next session, the next venue, the next series. The questions around Imran Khan’s health, his treatment, and the power of cricket’s institutions to speak – or stay silent – will not move on quite so quickly.